Marlys Elizabeth Alsaker Tengvall passed away peacefully April 19, 2019, in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Funeral services will be at Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church in Benson, Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at 11a.m. Brief burial and luncheon to follow.

Marlys Elizabeth Alsaker Tengvall was born to Carl and Cora Alsaker June 5, 1923, in Benson, Minnesota. She was confirmed by the Rev. Melvin Andrews at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in 1938, and graduated from Benson High School in 1941.

She attended St. Olaf College in Northfield for one year and from 1943 to 1949 worked at the University of MN, Morris Campus as an extension department secretary.
From 1950-51 she returned to St. Olaf College and roomed with her sister Solveig. Marlys then enrolled and graduated from the Minnesota School of Business in 1953.

Marlys was united in marriage to Francis Tengvall, June 23, 1953, at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Benson by the Rev. Harold Nasheim.
The newly married couple moved to 824 Grand Ave in St. Paul, where she worked at the University of MN Farm Campus while her husband took a job as a meat inspector at Swifts in South St. Paul.

In 1955, she and her husband Francis purchased a home at 505 S. Cretin Ave in St. Paul, where they lived for the next 10 years until December of 1965, when Francis was transferred to Omaha, NE.

While in Omaha, Marlys was a church secretary for 25 years at Christ The King Lutheran Church in Bellevue, while Francis continued as a quality control inspector for Swifts. In addition to their various church affiliations, they became active in The Sons of Norway Elveby Lodge 602, where she and Francis were charter members, and were also members in a gourmet culinary group called, “Feasters.”

They traveled to Europe several times and enjoyed many domestic trips during the next 30 years including their home town of Benson at least twice each year until Francis passed away in April of 1995. Marlys rode on the Spirit of Norway float participating in numerous regional parades since 1995, always wearing her Norwegian Bunad. She enjoyed doing Norwegian Hardanger embroidery and had created numerous detailed work pieces of great complexity.

Marlys continued to reside in Omaha for the next 21 years until she moved to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in 2016, to be closer to family.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband and brother Carl. She is survived by her sister, Solveig Westby of Hopkins.